Uh, this is adorable.

NYU Student Conducts Most Adorable Robot Experiment Ever


The tweenbot, a cardboard-bodied, cheerful little bugger, is equipped
with a flag stating its intended destination. Since it can only move forward, it depends
on the kindness of strangers to guide it and remove obstacles.


Tisch School of the Arts student Kacie Kinzer created the tweenbot
as a kind of art experiment. In her words:


I wondered: could a human-like object traverse sidewalks and streets along
with us, and in so doing, create a narrative about our relationship to space
and our willingness to interact with what we find in it? More importantly, how
could our actions be seen within a larger context of human connection that
emerges from the complexity of the city itself? To answer these
questions, I built robots.


In New York City, we might expect the smiley-faced tweenbot to be stabbed,
stomped, mugged, or covered in graffiti, but every single one of the journeys
was completed without a hitch. Pedestrians would stop and help the little guy
when he was trapped against a curb or headed into traffic, and point
him in the right direction.


I don't know about you guys, but I like to think this project says more about
the state of our nation than that stupid negative-nancy stock market. It's just
about the warmest, fuzziest thing I've seen since the last Muppet movie.